This is a physiological account of what Jesus went through for us.
It is graphic but I encourage you to read this.  
We need to be reminded of the complete sacrifice and pain 
Christ willingly endured for us as the Lamb of God.  
He took your place, my place on that cross on Golgotha, 
as an act of tremendous love which no one can rival!

There's also a well-written JAMA article about Christ's death:
                    JAMA 1986; 255: 1455-1463

WARNING:  The following account of Jesus's crucifixion contains a
          detailed medical account of Jesus's crucifixion.  If you
          are easily upset by the thought of violence and gore, you
          may wish to delete this mail immediately.

          However, this isn't without a purpose.  This isn't fiction.
          Everything recorded in this document actually happened, sad
          to say.  It demonstrates the cruelty and depravity of
          mankind, and the loving perseverance of our Savior, Jesus
          Christ.

          I hope you will find this message enlightening.  May it
          allow you to understand a little more fully what Christ
          went through for you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

                      THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS

In this article, I shall discuss some of the physical aspects of the
passion, or suffering, of Jesus Christ.  We shall follow Him from
Gethsemane, through His trial, His scourging, His path along the Via
Dolorosa, to His last dying hours on the cross.

I suddenly realized that I had taken the crucifixion more or less for
granted all these years -- that I had grown callous to its horror by
a too easy familiarity with the grim details -- and a too distant
friendship with Him.  It finally occurred to me that as a physician,
I did not even know the actual immediate cause of death.  The Gospel
writers do not help us very much on this point, because crucifixion
and scourging were so common during their lifetime that they
undoubtedly considered a detailed description totally superfluous --
so we have the concise words of the Evangelist:  "Pilate, having
scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified -- and they
crucified Him".

What did the body of Jesus of Nazareth actually endure during those
hours of torture?  This led me first to a study of the practice of
crucifixion itself; that is, the torture and execution of a person
by fixation to a cross.

The upright portion of the cross (or stipes) could have the crossarm
(or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its top (this is
what we commonly think of today as the classic form of the cross,
the one which we have later named the Latin cross).  However, the
common form used in our Lord's day was the Tau cross, shaped like
the Greek letter Tau or like our "T".  In this cross the patibulum
was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes.  There is fairly
overwhelming archeological evidence that it was on this type of
cross that Jesus was crucified.

The upright post, or stipes, was generally fixed in the ground at
the site of execution and the condemned man was forced to carry the
patibulum, apparently weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to
the place of execution.  Roman historical accounts and experimental
work have shown that the nails were driven between the small bones
of the wrists and not through the palms.  Nails driven trough the
palms will strip out between the fingers when they support the
weight of a human body.  The misconception may have come about
through a misunderstanding of Jesus' words to Thomas, "observe my
hands".  Anatomists, both modern and ancient, have always considered
the wrists as part of the hand.

A titulus, or small sign, stating the victim's crime was usually
carried at the front of the procession and later nailed to the cross
above the head.  This sign with its staff nailed to the top of the
cross would have given it somewhat the characteristic form of the
Latin cross.

The physical passion of Christ began in Gethsemane.  Of the many
aspects of this initial suffering, I shall only discuss the one of
physiological interest, the bloody sweat.  It is interesting that
the physician of the group, St. Luke, is the only one to mention
this.  He says, "And being in agony, He prayed the longer.  And his
sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground".

Though very rare, the phenomenon of Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat,
is well documented.  Under great emotional stress, tiny capillaries
in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat.  This
process alone could have produced marked weakness and possible
shock.

We shall move rapidly through the betrayal and arrest.  I must
stress again that important portions of the Passion story are
missing from this account.  This may be frustrating to you, but in
order to adhere to our purpose of discussion only of the purely
physical aspect of the Passion, this is necessary.  After the arrest
in the middle of the night, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin
and Caiaphas, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical
trauma was inflicted.  A soldier struck Jesus across the face for
remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas.  The palace guards
then blindfolded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify each of
them as they passed by, spat on Him, and struck Him in the face.

In the morning, Jesus, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and
exhausted from a sleepless night, is taken across Jerusalem to the
Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia, the seat of government of the
Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.  You are, of course, familiar
with Pilate's action in attempting to pass responsibility to Herod
Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea.  Jesus apparently suffered no
physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to
Pilate.  It was then, in response to the cries of the mob, that
Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging
and crucifixion.  Most Roman writers from this period do not
associate the two.  Many scholars believe that Pilate originally
ordered Jesus scourged as his full punishment and that the death
sentence by crucifixion came only in response to the taunt by the
mob that the Procurator was not properly defending Caesar against
this pretender who claimed to be the "KING OF THE JEWS".

Preparations for the scourging are carried out.  The prisoner is
stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His
head.  It is doubtful whether the Romans made any attempt to follow
the Jewish law in this matter of scourging.  The Jews had an ancient
law prohibiting more than forty lashes.  The Pharisees, always
making sure that the law was strictly kept, insisted that only
thirty-nine lashes be given.  (In this way, they were sure of
remaining within the law in case of a miscount.)  The Roman
legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum in his hand.  This is a
short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two
small balls of lead attached near the ends of each.  The heavy whip
is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus'
shoulders, back, and legs.  At first the heavy thongs cut through
the skin only.  Then as blows continue, they cut deeper into the
tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and
veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from
vessels in the underlying muscles.  The small balls of lead first
produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent
blows.  Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and
the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue.
When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner
is near death, the beating is finally stopped.

The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the
stone pavement, wet with His own blood.  The Roman soldiers see a
great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be a king.  They throw
a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a
scepter.  They still need a crown to make their travesty complete.
A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns
(commonly used for firewood) are plaited into a shape of a crown and
this is pressed into His scalp.  Again there is copious bleeding
(the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body).  After
mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the
stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the
thorns deeper in to His scalp.  Finally, they tire of their sadistic
sport and the robe is torn from His back.  This had already adhered
to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just
as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, causes
excruciating pain . . . almost as though He were again being whipped
-- and the wounds begin to bleed again.

In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments.  The
heavy patibulum of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the
execution detail of Roman soldiers headed by a centurion, begins its
slow journey.  In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of
the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious
blood loss, is too much.  He stumbles and falls.  The rough wood of
the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the
shoulders.  The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion,
selects a stalwart North African onlooker -- Simon of Cyrene -- to
carry the cross.  Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the
cold, clammy sweat of shock.  The 650 yard journey to Golgotha is
finally completed.  The prisoner is again stripped of His clothes --
except for a loin cloth which is allowed the Jews.

The crucifixion begins.  Jesus is offered wine mixed with Myrrh, a
mild analgesic mixture.  He refuses to drink.  Simon is ordered to
place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown
backward with His shoulders against the wood.  The legionnaire feels
for the depression at the front of the wrist.  He drives a heavy,
square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood.
Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being
careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion
and movement.  The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of
the stipes and the titulus reading "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the
Jews" is nailed in place.

The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with
both feet extended and toes down, a nail is driven through the arch
of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed.  The victim is now
crucified.  As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in
the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up
the arms to explode in the brain as the nails in the wrists are
putting pressure on the median nerves.  As He pushes Himself upward
to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the
nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the
feet.

At this point, another phenomenon occurs.  As the arms fatigue,
great waves of cramps swept over the muscles, knotting them in deep,
relentless, throbbing pain.  With these cramps comes the inability
to push Himself upward.  Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles
are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act.  Air
can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled.  Jesus fights
to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath.  Finally,
carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and
the cramps partially subside.  Spasmodically, He is able to push
Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.  It
was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short
sentences which are recorded:

 * The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for
   His seamless garment, "Father, forgive them for they know not
   what they do."

 * The second, to the persistent thief, "Today, thou shalt be with
   me in Paradise."

 * The third, looking down at the terrified, grief stricken,
   adolescent John (the beloved Apostle), He said, "Behold thy
   mother," and looking to Mary, His mother, "Woman, behold thy
   son."

 * The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, "My God,
   my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending
cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as the
tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down
against the rough timber.  Then another agony begins.  A deep
crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with
serum and begins to compress the heart.

Let us remember again the 22nd Psalm, verse 14: "I am poured out
like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax;
it is melted in the midst of my bowels."

It is now almost over -- the loss of tissue fluids has reached a
critical level, the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy,
thick, sluggish blood into the tissues, the tortured lungs are
making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air.  The markedly
dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain.

 * Jesus gasps His fifth cry, "I thirst."

Let us remember another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: "My
strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my
jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death."

A sponge soaked in Posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple
drink of the Roman legionnaires, is lifted to His lips.  He
apparently does not take any of the liquid.  The body of Jesus is
now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through
His tissues.

 * This realization brings out His sixth words, possibly little more
   than a tortured whisper:  "It is finished."  His mission of
   atonement has been completed.  Finally He can allow His body to
   die.

 * With one last surge of strength, He once again presses His torn
   feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper
   breath, and utters His seventh and last cry: "Father, into thy
   hands I commit my spirit."

The rest you know.  In order that the Sabbath not be profaned, the
Jews asked that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the
crosses.  The common method of ending a crucifixion was by
crurefracture, the breaking of the legs.  Unable to relieve the
muscles of the chest, rapid suffocation soon followed.  The legs of
the two thieves were broken, but when they came to Jesus, they saw
that this was unnecessary.

Apparently to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his
lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through
the pericardium and into the heart.  The 34th verse of the 19th
chapter of the Gospel according to St. John:  "And immediately there
came out blood and water."  Thus, there was blood from the interior
of the heart.  We therefore, have rather conclusive post mortem
evidence that our Lord died, not usual crucifixion death by
suffocation, but of heart failure due to shock and a constriction of
the heart by fluid in the pericardium.

Thus, we have seen a glimpse of the epitome of evil which man can
exhibit toward man -- and toward God.  This is not a pretty sight
and is apt to leave us despondent and depressed.  How grateful we
can be that we have a sequel, a glimpse of the infinite mercy of God
toward man -- the miracle of the atonement and the expectation of
Easter morning!

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